I have read Horror stories on comcast about installing cable cards. Installers coming out sometimes 10 times to get the cable card to work. I live in a Scientific Atlanta area in on comcast of Garden State. I really HATE my comcast DVR with SARA guide. Should I take a chance with Cable Cards?

I have read Horror stories on comcast about installing cable cards. Installers coming out sometimes 10 times to get the cable card to work. I live in a Scientific Atlanta area in on comcast of Garden State. I really HATE my comcast DVR with SARA guide. Should I take a chance with Cable Cards?

Most of the horror stories are in the past. Almost all Comcast installs in major markets go through without problems now; I'd guess maybe 95% have no real problems (but you still have the installers not showing up on time, not having the right equipment, and all the normal Comcast glitches.)

Well, I suppose, but heck how did we know, in the first place, that there were a significant number of "horror stories" to start with? Same basis. Since the legitimacy of the concerns originally expressed was built on the "results in this thread", it does follow that more recent results in this thread indicate that "Most of the horror stories are in the past."

Most of the horror stories are in the past. Almost all Comcast installs in major markets go through without problems now; I'd guess maybe 95% have no real problems (but you still have the installers not showing up on time, not having the right equipment, and all the normal Comcast glitches.)

I had a great experience in the Detroit metro area, a few months ago. The contractor who came to our condo had a hand-held data entry (possibly with bar code scanning) device that allowed him to key in all the ID numbers needed without having to place a call to the home office and read numbers to somebody over the phone. The hits came thereafter, all channels appeared, no complaints at all from me.

Based on what? The recent results in this thread? If you don't have inside knowledge, you have no way of knowing this to be true.

As I said, it's a guess, but it's based on two different pieces of info:
1. The number of people who have expressed worry about it beforehand and then reported back with no problems. There have been very few folks who expressed worry and then reported back with problems (it's been a while since I've seen that in a Comcast major market. Time-Warner, Cox, and the smaller providers I've seen, but not Comcast (I suspect lack of TA's helps a lot!)).

2. The number of people with complaints is way down in this thread, while the number of HD TiVos sold is relatively constant.

No inside knowledge, just a guess, but I'm reasonably confident it's true.

Most of the horror stories are in the past. Almost all Comcast installs in major markets go through without problems now; I'd guess maybe 95% have no real problems (but you still have the installers not showing up on time, not having the right equipment, and all the normal Comcast glitches.)

Hmm...I have been trying to get a cablecard from comcast for my Philips 42" plasma TV. They have tried four different cards now, and I still do not get anything other than local HD channels and ESPN/ESPN2! I have digital preferred service on my DVR on the other TV, so I should be getting lots of channels. I have to call them again today...

I won't bore you with details. But I was supposed to get the Comcast triple play. Guy gets there at 1:30. He doesn't have the cable cards. Has to go to alamo to get them. Comes back with 2 single cards. Took 4 hours to get the system back up and running.

Several problems and they have to come back out today.

1 - the second cable card does not work. it just stops working randomly.

Just wanted to report back with successful install- Memphis, TN. CC tech installed M-card, new setup is up and running, working great. Now for the cable bill to come in...

Bill is in and it is worth noting that Comcast charged us $49.99 for the truckroll CC installation. It is listed on the bill as "hourly service". Sigh. Interestingly, though, the day of the appt Comcast called and said tech would be late and we would be credited $20 for inconvenience. He wasn't late. Still got the $20 off. So, win? Or not, since I think even $30 for this "installation" is a total rip-off.

Hmm...I have been trying to get a cablecard from comcast for my Philips 42" plasma TV. They have tried four different cards now, and I still do not get anything other than local HD channels and ESPN/ESPN2! I have digital preferred service on my DVR on the other TV, so I should be getting lots of channels. I have to call them again today...

OBTW, this is in the Baltimore MD metro area, a major market I think?

Well, could not get them to properly activate the card over the phone. Even though I have the Host ID and Card ID, the phone rep said she could not input the ID's, I had to have a tech "scan" the ID's on site. Funny, the tech that installed the card originally just called in the ID's and asked for activation.

Do any of them have any idea what they are doing? I now have to wait till Saturday (three days) for the next tech to try and get this working.

Well, could not get them to properly activate the card over the phone. Even though I have the Host ID and Card ID, the phone rep said she could not input the ID's, I had to have a tech "scan" the ID's on site. Funny, the tech that installed the card originally just called in the ID's and asked for activation.

Do any of them have any idea what they are doing? I now have to wait till Saturday (three days) for the next tech to try and get this working.

In this area (Atlanta) the front-line reps do not have the access required to allow input of the IDs. The supervisors do, but between reps who don't want you to get to them and supervisors who are clueless, it's moot anyway.

Also, just like you mentioned, they don't "scan" anything on site, they just call the IDs in, but they aren't calling them in to the same place that you and I get to talk to in customer service.

You may be able to get some help from the folks at We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com if you are in that serious of a hurry. Comcast screwed up the entry of my details at one point and someone behind that address was able to correct it for me (I was sure to include all the data they needed in the initial email). Otherwise, frankly, I'd wait for the tech, because that way you can keep him onsite until the thing is verified as fully operational.

__________________
I have a TivoHD with 1TB of storage. Don't make me use it.

Bill is in and it is worth noting that Comcast charged us $49.99 for the truckroll CC installation. It is listed on the bill as "hourly service". Sigh. Interestingly, though, the day of the appt Comcast called and said tech would be late and we would be credited $20 for inconvenience. He wasn't late. Still got the $20 off. So, win? Or not, since I think even $30 for this "installation" is a total rip-off.

I also live in the Memphis area but have not purchase a HD Tivo yet but plan to. I called and was given the 50 buck installation fee but also was told there is a monthly cost of 10.95. I am wondering do you need 2 cards and how much did your bill increase because of the HD service and cable cards? BTW my non-HD unit is also having problems with showing any programing after 2/27/2010. Are you experiencing this problem? Thanks

In this area (Atlanta) the front-line reps do not have the access required to allow input of the IDs. The supervisors do, but between reps who don't want you to get to them and supervisors who are clueless, it's moot anyway.

Also, just like you mentioned, they don't "scan" anything on site, they just call the IDs in, but they aren't calling them in to the same place that you and I get to talk to in customer service.

You may be able to get some help from the folks at We_Can_HelpAMPERSANDcableDOTcomcastDOTcom if you are in that serious of a hurry. Comcast screwed up the entry of my details at one point and someone behind that address was able to correct it for me (I was sure to include all the data they needed in the initial email). Otherwise, frankly, I'd wait for the tech, because that way you can keep him onsite until the thing is verified as fully operational.

Ha, well, he tried. I'm getting maybe 90% of the channels I get on my DVR. Most of the Encore movie channels refuse to show up, and some of the stuff like the military channel and BBC America also come up blank. But I have my full slate of HD and all the lower end analog, so I am satisfied for now since it is just my backup TV.

Well, I had hi hopes after the comments that most issues are behind us.
Switched from Knology analog to Comcast triple play with HD.
We'll see how they screw up the billing later, for now having the Tivo works is the first job.
Installer was her and gone in a half hour with everything. Couldn't slow him down for squat. He gave the usual "I use to have Tivo, but like the DVR better", and "You just have to wait, the cable card can take a while", then like the lone ranger he was gone.

Well, like others, it isn't working. Channel search runs and then finally times out and says it can't find what it needs.
For what it's woth, the phone and internet all worked before he left.

Will give it an hour, then contact them to see what's up.

After reading this forum for a while, I was afraid of this, but still held out hope.
So much for that.
Kevin R
Knoxville, TN

Well, they sent the same tech back. He re-called in the serial number on the M card, but couldn't wait for the tivo setup to finish. Said he's call in 30 min to make sure everything is working. That was a few hours ago, and I can't get an answer on his cell.
Evidently he's from an independent contractor, not actually comcast.
Called comcast, and they will try to get in touch with him again, if not they will see if they can get someone out tomorrow.
Argghh!

Well, they sent the same tech back. He re-called in the serial number on the M card, but couldn't wait for the tivo setup to finish. Said he's call in 30 min to make sure everything is working. That was a few hours ago, and I can't get an answer on his cell.
Evidently he's from an independent contractor, not actually comcast.
Called comcast, and they will try to get in touch with him again, if not they will see if they can get someone out tomorrow.
Argghh!

Kevin R
Knoxville

I'm not quite following what your problem is (well, I know it doesn't work) from your 2 posts. "Channel Search?" Are you referring to Guided Setup? The process where the Tivo figures out what channels you have? Heck, I'd leave too.

That said, if the bottom line for this guy is "I called in the stuff, I'm outta here," I'd say email the folks at We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com, and tell them that you are being "helped" with a cut-and-run approach. They tend to respond in under 24 hours from what I have seen. If you want to take the firmly proactive approach, in your email, include your Comcast account number, the M-Card serial number, and the Data, Host ID, and UnitAddress details from your CableCard Pairing screen.

__________________
I have a TivoHD with 1TB of storage. Don't make me use it.

Thanks CJV2 for the reply.
Sorry about the poor description, I was really hoping they would get it resolved and I wouldn't have to go into detail.

As far as a better description, the card was installed, and the tech wrote down the numbers from the screen that popped up and called them in.
The Tivo HD got to the "Please wait… Acquiring Channel Information" screen and runs until it times out.
Under DVR diagnostics, it doesn't show any info for tuner 0 or 1, and has a SNR of 14db, no signal strength listed.
What info can I pull to help narrow this down?

They are supposed to send out a comcast tech tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes, but if I can get something done in the mean time that would be great. I've read too many of these 100 truck roll, and a year later it's still not right. Hope to not follow in those footsteps.

I will contact the link you referenced, but figured I'd see what I can figure out tonight, and see what happens with the next tech, before contacting them.

As far as a better description, the card was installed, and the tech wrote down the numbers from the screen that popped up and called them in.
The Tivo HD got to the "Please wait… Acquiring Channel Information" screen and runs until it times out.
Under DVR diagnostics, it doesn't show any info for tuner 0 or 1, and has a SNR of 14db, no signal strength listed.
What info can I pull to help narrow this down?

I think I'm starting to get the idea here. So if you try to do the Test Channels bit - you wind up with the Acquiring Channel Info bit as well?

Also, check this out, it may help you narrow the issue down, from the Tivo support site.

Did the tech try a different card or are you still on the original one?

__________________
I have a TivoHD with 1TB of storage. Don't make me use it.

As far as a better description, the card was installed, and the tech wrote down the numbers from the screen that popped up and called them in.
The Tivo HD got to the "Please wait… Acquiring Channel Information" screen and runs until it times out.
Under DVR diagnostics, it doesn't show any info for tuner 0 or 1, and has a SNR of 14db, no signal strength listed.
What info can I pull to help narrow this down?

There's lots of good info on this Tivo support page. Find your cable card and look at the cable card diagnostics for it.

Edit: cjv2 beat me to it! But it's still a very good page to spend time on!

I think I'm starting to get the idea here. So if you try to do the Test Channels bit - you wind up with the Acquiring Channel Info bit as well?

Did the tech try a different card or are you still on the original one?

The tech brought out two to install, and wrote both down on the install sheet.
When he installed the first one it showed up as an M card (I noticed the other was as well), so he put the other one back.
When it hit the "acquiring channel" screen he left and said these things take a long time, could be 24 hrs.
When I called comcast after a few hrs, they sent him back, he pulled card info again and re-called it in. Said give it a 20 minutes and he'd call back and see if it was fixed. Haven't heard back from him.

The tech brought out two to install, and wrote both down on the install sheet.
When he installed the first one it showed up as an M card (I noticed the other was as well), so he put the other one back.
When it hit the "acquiring channel" screen he left and said these things take a long time, could be 24 hrs.
When I called comcast after a few hrs, they sent him back, he pulled card info again and re-called it in. Said give it a 20 minutes and he'd call back and see if it was fixed. Haven't heard back from him.

24 hours is a load of hooey. When they (finally) got my M-Card put in, we had it operational in 5 minutes. There can be delays, but a day?

If you check out the support article it may give you some insight into what the problem is, but it's almost definitely going to take Comcast to fix it, presuming that the problem isn't the Tivo (it probably isn't the Tivo). My money is on either a bad card or they haven't properly paired it. Likely the latter, as it sounds like your tech doesn't know what normal behavior is or what to expect.

__________________
I have a TivoHD with 1TB of storage. Don't make me use it.